Youth, scouting, flops and the coming season.

We can all honestly say we've had more than our fair share of flops over the past years, and given our last few finishes in the league, where does the line draw?

Should we continue to sign these players who are costing the club 10's of millions of pound in fees and wages, and not performing. Or should we recoginse the abundance of talent we have in the youth, and realisticly waste another season of 5th- 8th place on blooding these potential players we have at our disposal. All in hope of having a crack the following season with our youth.

I for one, could accept a 5th - 8th place finish knowing we are building for the future with potential stars in the making, rather than 70k a week flops consistently failing to do the business, week in week out.

Rafa has blessed us with a superb foundation, it's time to wisen up and take advantage.

If you're good enough, you're old enough.

Rafa's biggest legacy at this club will be the youth setup he restructured. Clearly he recognised, unlike the majority of coaches in the English league, that there would have to be a massive upgrade in technical talent. I think you're right though. It would definitely be worth pouring most resources in developing the youth. In today's modern game where quick fixes and throwing money at everything are the only options the youth foundations suffer, particularly in England. Money doesn't wait for anyone sadly. One day I hope one team will buck the trend and produce a raft of youngsters from their youth setup whose instinct and understanding in playing together from such a young age will see one team fly at the expense of a team who thought money had all the answers.

I don't think you have the time to just wait and build for the future in this league. We have to try and win it every year but do it our way and in a smart way. We wont be able to go all out with the youngsters but hopefully the blend will be better than previous seasons - I think with a man like Rodgers at the helm we are ready to see the club really start pulling in the right direction. He will know who can perform in his team at the top level and who cannot. Remember, to him it's not about playing the best formation for the players but having the players play his way.

Buy top quality, use the youth to increase depth.

Having too much youth in team is excellent in theory but it doesn't work. They aren't mentally nor physically ready to play week in, week out and experience the lows as well as the highs. It could break them.

The squad needs an injection of top class talent, overlooking it and sacrificing it while other teams strengthen with these kind of players could make us fall behind even further.

In an ideal world we can have the players ready for the here and now while preparing the youth players to fill in when they are more matured and the current top players in the squad move on in their careers and get older. Having only one or the other isn't a wise move IMO.

Should we continue to sign these players who are costing the club 10's of millions of pound in fees and wages, and not performing. Or should we recoginse the abundance of talent we have in the youth, and realisticly waste another season of 5th- 8th place on blooding these potential players we have at our disposal. All in hope of having a crack the following season with our youth.

I for one, could accept a 5th - 8th place finish knowing we are building for the future with potential stars in the making, rather than 70k a week flops consistently failing to do the business, week in week out.

That makes sense on the face of it BUT you lose the likes of Skrtel, Agger, Reina, Lucas, Suarez etc because they certainly won't be sticking around beyond another league season like last year. I would like to see the club splash out on a couple of decent signings to strengthen the team but just as importnantly to show these players they have ambition and that it is worth sticking around because the future is bright.

I'd go as far as say Rodgers main job is to integrate Sterling and Suso in the team in the next 2 years.

I think we need to put more faith in the youth for depth. I'm not saying these kids should be playing week in, week out because they shouldn't. But when we need to rotate to keep the first teamers fresh or need a replacement when there's an injury these youngsters can step in and do a job. Rather than a 30 year old squad player in Cole, a Suso type player could be more hungry to come in and take advantage of an opportunity.

When it comes to youth and scouting I think ideally it's best to never or rarely having to buy squad players. A club with a decent academy should be more than capable to at least produce their own squad players. And then when it comes to first team scouting primarily buy impact players. That for me is the perfect balance. Also because experienced squad players are standing in the way of gametime and thus development of talents. And then in addition to that you also have the talents that develop into more than just squad players. I think in that situation more would do that. But it takes a different mentality. If we want to really incorporate our youth into the first team better then we'll need to feel comfortable enough to rely on them. We've had plenty of older players that have been sub par for us, so why are we so afraid to rely on youth, just because they might not be ready yet. At least with them we know they'll improve.

Good topic, and although I disagree about 'wasting' another season blooding the youth in the league, I have a feeling that cups won't be anywhere near as much as a priority as they were last season and we'll see our youth playing more prominently in the League Cup and the Europa League games in this calendar year.

I know we spent a lot of seasons saying that this or that youth player "will make it"
but I've never seen so many players coming along that I've thought
"Maybe not this season but soon these lads could be stars".

I'm not expecting three or four to make a massive impact straight away,
but there are definitely a fair few that we could say with more confidence that,
handled the right way, they could be challenging in the coming seasons.

I was annoyed at seeing Silva let go, but then I thought maybe it's because
we can employ Suso out there and Ibe looks a prospect.

Then if you look to the left side we have Pacheco, Sterling and down the line Sinclair.

Delighted to see Morgan get his chance too.

Then if we look at the defense we have Kelly, Flanagan, Robinson, Sama, Wisdom, McLaughlin.



Obviously they can't all make it, but slowly we are starting to look at a much deeper pool of talent
then previously where we might only have looked at Pacheco and Nemeth or Guthrie and Darby.






Not sure if that makes a whole lot of sense to anyone, but it gives me hope that
we can bring in a few quality players this year, rather than journeymen, and start
to integrate the youth player, slowly, into our squad.

I wonder what Brendan will do with last seasons flops?
Downing, Adam, Spearing.

Put them together with Pacheco, Aquilani, Henderson, Cole, Shelvey and that adds up to a large weekly payout and lets face it all of them have been average at best for us in the last few seasons.

Do you give them a last chance to prove themselves in the new system or get rid and rely on the youth as called out in the posts above? Be interesting to see how Rodgers resolves this problem and its a key issue that needs addressing.

I know we spent a lot of seasons saying that this or that youth player "will make it"
but I've never seen so many players coming along that I've thought
"Maybe not this season but soon these lads could be stars".

I'm not expecting three or four to make a massive impact straight away,
but there are definitely a fair few that we could say with more confidence that,
handled the right way, they could be challenging in the coming seasons.

I was annoyed at seeing Silva let go, but then I thought maybe it's because
we can employ Suso out there and Ibe looks a prospect.

Then if you look to the left side we have Pacheco, Sterling and down the line Sinclair.

Delighted to see Morgan get his chance too.

Then if we look at the defense we have Kelly, Flanagan, Robinson, Sama, Wisdom, McLaughlin.



Obviously they can't all make it, but slowly we are starting to look at a much deeper pool of talent
then previously where we might only have looked at Pacheco and Nemeth or Guthrie and Darby.






Not sure if that makes a whole lot of sense to anyone, but it gives me hope that
we can bring in a few quality players this year, rather than journeymen, and start
to integrate the youth player, slowly, into our squad.

totally agree with what you said here, the depth of our youth looks a lot more productive than it has for a long time. I think a big thanks to Rafa but also an even bigger thanks to Rodolfo Borrell for all the work he has done

I know we spent a lot of seasons saying that this or that youth player "will make it"
but I've never seen so many players coming along that I've thought
"Maybe not this season but soon these lads could be stars".

I'm not expecting three or four to make a massive impact straight away,
but there are definitely a fair few that we could say with more confidence that,
handled the right way, they could be challenging in the coming seasons.

I was annoyed at seeing Silva let go, but then I thought maybe it's because
we can employ Suso out there and Ibe looks a prospect.

Then if you look to the left side we have Pacheco, Sterling and down the line Sinclair.

Delighted to see Morgan get his chance too.

Then if we look at the defense we have Kelly, Flanagan, Robinson, Sama, Wisdom, McLaughlin.



Obviously they can't all make it, but slowly we are starting to look at a much deeper pool of talent
then previously where we might only have looked at Pacheco and Nemeth or Guthrie and Darby.






Not sure if that makes a whole lot of sense to anyone, but it gives me hope that
we can bring in a few quality players this year, rather than journeymen, and start
to integrate the youth player, slowly, into our squad.

Definitely makes sense to me.

A few years back, we were focussing on one or two players out of the entire youth system, hoping like mad they'd break through.

But now, thanks to the investment in these players and the right coaches to develop them, we're looking at a hatful of young lads who look to have the assets required to be knocking on the door of the first team in the near future; some immediately.

It's a breath of fresh air amongst the doubts surrounding our transfer dealings.